Wednesday, November 2, 2011

8 November 2011: It's a boy! Women and Non-Monetary Benefits from a Son in India

Abstract:
It is well-documented that in a number of countries unnaturally few
girls are born relative to boys. Explanations have focused on a range
of potential reasons, including economic and cultural benefits from
having a son. Households are usually treated as monolithic entities,
however, and the motivations of particular household members are
understudied. In contrast, this paper looks at a potential benefit
mothers derive from giving birth to a boy - an improvement in their
position within the household. I analyze this hypothesis using
households with young first-borns from a nationally representative
Indian dataset. The results suggest that women do indeed gain in
non-monetary terms: Having a boy rather than a girl leads to increased
joint household decision-making powers and to more freedom in carrying
out activities without the explicit consent of other household
members. This implies that even young women may have a self-interest
in practicing son preference.